Gerry Dulac: Steelers' hiring of Mike McCarthy has 'nothing to do' with Aaron Rodgers' future

Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 24, 2026

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ decision to hire Mike McCarthy at age 62 basically came down to the franchise bucking their own trend of hiring young 30-something assistants and following a pattern that is currently happening around the NFL.

But it has “nothing to do” with the possibility of Aaron Rodgers returning for another season, sources told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Like several other NFL teams, the Steelers felt more comfortable hiring McCarthy, a successful head coach with the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, than hiring inexperienced assistant coaches such as Chris Shula or Nate Scheelhaase to replace Mike Tomlin.

That trend was already started when John Harbaugh (New York Giants), Kevin Stefanski (Atlanta) and Robert Saleh (Tennessee) were hired this week by teams who had head-coach openings. Even Jeff Hafley (Miami) was a former head coach at Boston College.

Jesse Minter, who was hired by the Baltimore Ravens after serving as the Los Angeles Chargers’ defensive coordinator, is the only one of the five new hires who has never been a head coach.

That is different than what happened a year ago, when five of the seven new head coaches hired were former NFL assistants — Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, Kellen Moore, Aaron Glenn and Brian Schottenheimer.

After the 2023 season, five of the eight head coaches hired were former assistants — Mike Macdonald, Dave Canales, Jerod Mayo, Brian Callahan and Antonio Pierce.

But so far, it appears the trend is changing. Teams are more comfortable with coaches who have been in charge instead of trying to unearth the next Sean McVay, even though the NFL saw three of those young head coaches — Macdonald, Johnson and Coen — take their teams to the postseason.

In the end, the Steelers followed suit.

They had a second interview with Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on Friday and met earlier in the week with former Dolphins head coach and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. They had discussed meeting with Shula and Scheelhaasse — a pair of Los Angeles Rams assistants who had virtual interviews with the team — but decided against a second interview Monday or Tuesday after talking with McCarthy.

In the meantime, hiring McCarthy does not impact any decision the Steelers might have about bringing back Rodgers for another season.

Rodgers played 13 seasons with McCarthy in Green Bay and teamed up to win Super Bowl 45 when the Packers beat the Steelers in Arlington, Texas. Rodgers was 100-57-1 as a starter and won two league MVPs while McCarthy was the Packers’ coach.

Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Steelers to play in 2025, and they have not discussed any future plans with him or other players since Tomlin’s resignation.

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